Captain Phaneuf

[lamajama]

If he's that wound up all the time I wonder how he reacts with himself when he gets owned, like by Mason Raymond in the Canuck game. I do not say this in jest but often guys like this develop head problems from the pressure they put on themselves.

 

[Zee]

I think Phaneuf was the perfect choice as captain of this team.  You needed a guy who wouldn't crumble under the spotlight, and Phaneuf was already a "known" name from his Calgary days.  He's talented, tough and at times brash.  With a young, evolving team like the Leafs, it's good to have a strong character filling in the captains role. 

 

[Optimus Reimer]

Anyone else shuddering everytime he steps on the ice?  I am not sure if it is the style employed by RW, but Phaneuf is playing like titts on a bull.

 

[Guilt Trip]

Phaneuf's issue has always been his hockey sense, or lack there of. All the tools, but doesn't have the brain.....

 

[ZBBM]

I've made my feelings about Phaneuf clear in the Burke thread.

 

[Mikhail Bloodnovsky]

All the tools with an IQ of a peanut.

 

[maplesyrup]

I've defended our captain a lot this year but I was at the game last night and followed him a lot. - I didn't like what I saw. I think he's wrapped up in trying to find guys to murder when perhaps he should be just focusing on playing the game... He's got the skills. That much is clear to me.   

 

[groundskeeper willie]

I've defended our captain a lot this year but I was at the game last night and followed him a lot. - I didn't like what I saw. I think he's wrapped up in trying to find guys to murder when perhaps he should be just focusing on playing the game... He's got the skills. That much is clear to me. 

He's trying to do too much, especially with the team on a losing streak. He can and has been a great player, he just needs to play to his strengths.

As much as we would like to think otherwise, he is closer to Bryan McCabe than Chris Pronger. Trying to force him to be the latter just sets him up to fail. McCabe at his peak was a very good top pairing dman, he just couldn't sustain that level for more than a few years.

 

[ZBBM]

How many more years are we stuck with this wipe?

 

[Mikhail Bloodnovsky]

Captain Peanut!!!!!

 

[cw]

How many more years are we stuck with this wipe?

Two more after this.

His captaincy to me was Burke's way of conceding we didn't have an elite player on the roster and too much time had passed since we last did.

 

[ZBBM]

How many more years are we stuck with this wipe?

Two more after this.

His captaincy to me was Burke's way of conceding we didn't have an elite player on the roster and too much time had passed since we last did.

I think that's exactly it.  And he was spectacularly wrong.  And, as I pointed out elsewhere, his inability to admit he was wrong has given us a inconsistent, non-elite defenseman who is both untradeable and unbenchable because of the letter.

 

[maplesyrup]

I say bump his PP time ever so slightly and cut his regular strength time a healthy amount.

 

[Bonsixx]

He's essentially Brian McCabe, armed with the ability to deliver brutal hits.

Nothing wrong with that, he just shouldn't be playing a half-hour every game.

 

[BlueWhiteBlood]

He's essentially Brian McCabe, armed with the ability to deliver brutal hits.

Nothing wrong with that, he just shouldn't be playing a half-hour every game.

He does log a lot of minutes.

 

[cw]

How many more years are we stuck with this wipe?

Two more after this.

His captaincy to me was Burke's way of conceding we didn't have an elite player on the roster and too much time had passed since we last did.

I think that's exactly it.  And he was spectacularly wrong.  And, as I pointed out elsewhere, his inability to admit he was wrong has given us a inconsistent, non-elite defenseman who is both untradeable and unbenchable because of the letter.

When you have Komisarek as one of your top 7, you can't really expect them to bench Dion much. He may not be elite but he hasn't been nearly as marginal/bad as Komisarek.

 

[ZBBM]

How many more years are we stuck with this wipe?

Two more after this.

His captaincy to me was Burke's way of conceding we didn't have an elite player on the roster and too much time had passed since we last did.

I think that's exactly it.  And he was spectacularly wrong.  And, as I pointed out elsewhere, his inability to admit he was wrong has given us a inconsistent, non-elite defenseman who is both untradeable and unbenchable because of the letter.

When you have Komisarek as one of your top 7, you can't really expect them to bench Dion much. He may not be elite but he hasn't been nearly as marginal/bad as Komisarek.

I disagree. I see him making mistake after mistake after mistake.  Tonight's final shot.  Not tying up a guy's stick who scores on a tip.  Giveaways in our zone.  Giveaways in their zone.  Fumbling the puck.  Missing the net by a country mile more often than not.

Komisarek hasn't been good, of course.  But Phaneuf gets loads of ice in all important situations and fails in all of them.  The very fact that we are comparing the two of them ... well it's just depressing.

 

[cw]

How many more years are we stuck with this wipe?

Two more after this.

His captaincy to me was Burke's way of conceding we didn't have an elite player on the roster and too much time had passed since we last did.

I think that's exactly it.  And he was spectacularly wrong.  And, as I pointed out elsewhere, his inability to admit he was wrong has given us a inconsistent, non-elite defenseman who is both untradeable and unbenchable because of the letter.

When you have Komisarek as one of your top 7, you can't really expect them to bench Dion much. He may not be elite but he hasn't been nearly as marginal/bad as Komisarek.

I disagree. I see him making mistake after mistake after mistake.  Tonight's final shot.  Not tying up a guy's stick who scores on a tip.  Giveaways in our zone.  Giveaways in their zone.  Fumbling the puck.  Missing the net by a country mile more often than not.

Komisarek hasn't been good, of course.  But Phaneuf gets loads of ice in all important situations and fails in all of them.  The very fact that we are comparing the two of them ... well it's just depressing.

Even if Komisarek is better defensively and that's at least debatable, Dion does contribute offensively and without that this team would be sunk much worse than they are. Because the balance of the club isn't strong defensively, they have to run and gun to try to keep up. If they tried to do that with Komisarek, they might as well give up.

I wish we didn't have to use Phaneuf on the PK and at even strength as much because he is clumsy and lacking in hockey sense to be very reliable defensively. But we really don't have a shutdown guy and most of our dmen are also suspect defensively.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Not tying up a guy's stick who scores on a tip.

I mean, without having the ability to look through tape of every great defenseman out there, I'm going to hazard a pretty safe guess that every D that logs big minutes makes mistakes like this, makes giveaways, etc.  Some of them will be predominantly defensive d-men and do all or most of their contributing defensively, others may be an elite mix, and still others will be predominantly offensive d-men. 

Phaneuf clearly falls into the latter category, and I don't know why you'd expect otherwise.  But in saying that, he's nowhere near as bad as the hyperbole that gets thrown around about him.  His first half was better than his second half has been, but even still he's being talked about as though he can't do anything defensively.  He's not great defensively, but he's top 10 in D offensively, so he's contributing to a team that lacks in depth scoring. 

 

[proteus2000]

Phaneuf atoi is at 25:21, the next highest is Gunnar at 22:01... obviously when he plays 9 more minutes a night than Franson, Schenn, Komi, he makes a higher number of mistakes ESPECIALLY since he is the main QB on defense after Liles (Gardiner is being groomed for this now as well).

He does make boneheaded plays and can get caught flatfooted, but the problem lies in not trusting to put other D on the ice and give him a break. If the Leafs had a solid shutdown guy that could log 20+ minutes, it would help Phaneuf focus on what he excels at. Sitting 4th in points on the team is pretty impressive.